The new Mac mini. It just had to be more than a cheap headless desktop computer, but it is far less. It?s a laptop without a screen or keyboard or battery. It?s an external drive with a computer squeezed in. Cheap PCs are mostly towers, generic boxes that can be added to, but are largely hollow, empty and without style. They are desktop behemoths with no guts. The Mac mini is flexible because it is small. read on……

The new Mac mini. It just had to be more than a cheap headless desktop computer, but it is far less. It?s a laptop without a screen or keyboard or battery. It?s an external drive with a computer squeezed in. Cheap PCs are mostly towers, generic boxes that can be added to, but are largely hollow, empty and without style. They are desktop behemoths with no guts. The Mac mini is flexible because it is small. It is also flexible because of USB and Firewire and Bluetooth and Airport. Think of this mini computer as a jack of all trades. It is silver and white and that means it will look great sitting under your plasma screen connected by DVI. It can be your little stereo with the addition of a small cheap VGA flat screen and big amplifier. It can be your little iPod station. So, why not just a laptop? Because you pay for a screen and keyboard and battery and that just gets in the way sometimes. This will make a fantastic email sending, web-browsing, music playing, piece of fun. It looks like a slick consumer electronic device and not a home computer and that?s what it is. The success of the Mac mini will come from creative uses dreamed up by customers and by vendors who are quick to capitalize on it?s unique form factor. The aftermarket for the Mac mini will make or break it.
Here?s the deal. It is a G4 to keep costs and noise down. It is a G4 because that is what resides in Apple laptops. It is a screen-less laptop because Apple is becoming a laptop company. It is not a desktop tower PC because Apple stopped making those in favor of powerful 64-bit workstations, rack-mount servers and all-in-one G5 iMacs. The Mac mini is a DVR, a DVD player, the heart of a music system, a cool computer in your kitchen, in an RV —– who knows how people might use one. It can also feed your pack of gum sized iPod Shuffle. Other companies are selling you a computer that you can put in your home or use at work. This seems like a computer you can fit into your life.